Despite occasional flashpoints during the two-hour meeting, Board of Alderman President Lorie Vaccaro and Board of Education Finance Committee Chairman Christopher Phipps said afterward they would try to keep the conflict from ending up in a courtroom.

“I hope it will be resolved without a lawsuit,” Vaccaro said.

“We don’t want to go to a lawsuit,” Phipps said. “Nobody wins . . . I don’t see based on tonight’s talk that it will go to a lawsuit tomorrow.”

While a deal remains to be reached, their remarks were a marked contrast from weeks of confrontational posturing between the school district and City Hall.

School officials view the Aldermen’s January vote to take $600,000 from their budget as illegal, and have repeatedly said that without the money they’ll finish the school year in the red without more funds.

City officials say the cut was OK because the school board received more state aid than anticipated when the 2017-2018 budget was first set.

“It wasn’t the Board of Ed’s fault, it’s not the city’s fault,” Bshara said. “We really need to figure out a way to make this work for all of us.”

A possible source of compromise to emerge during Monday’s meeting — changing the way a $750,000 surplus food service fund on the school board’s books is accounted for.

School officials seemed hesitant to commit to any specific course of action without consulting their lawyer first.

They said that their lawyer told them federal law prohibited the money from being used to offset educational expenses.

But city officials say only a portion of the money is restricted.

“They should be able to dip into that and give up some money for the students,” Vaccaro said.

While not committing to any specifics, Phipps said he hoped for a compromise with the city.

“Let’s continue to talk,” he said. “We could work it out.”

The dispute between city and school officials in Ansonia could have an impact beyond Ansonia. The city is about to start studying whether the school district should merge or regionalize in some form with Derby.

Committees have been formed and, on Monday, the Valley’s state delegation issued a press release saying a grant had been secured to pay for the study.

But in a Tweet, Jim Gildea, chairman of the Derby Board of Education, said his community has to tread cautiously given the lawsuit threats being tossed around in Ansonia.

“I speak for many parents and citizens when I say it is concerning to be entering into a regionalization study when such a toxic environment exists. True governing requires civility and compromise,” Gildea wrote May 12.